It wasn’t a Hamilton County Board of Education meeting as such. It wasn’t a Hamilton County Commission meeting. The public was informed about the recent meeting but not specifically invited. Students weren’t present, either.
It was, in fact, a luncheon where members of the school board discussed their legislative priorities for the session that started this past week with legislators in the county delegation, county commissioners, Chattanooga City Council members and a representative from the office of U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee.
The venue was The Crossing Church, which was offered at no charge to the contingent by Chad Harris, pastor of the church and brother of school board member Jodi Schaffer, R-East Brainerd.
The pastor, as he might in other luncheon meetings at the church, began the proceedings with a nonsectarian prayer asking God to “give your servants great wisdom … to carry out your will and justice in our city.”